Chapter 68: A Journalist's Visit
Chen Yiyang certainly wouldn't admit he was just bluffing to the other party. He originally thought the Roman Glazed Beads the other party was selling looked very similar to the batch he once got at a bargain.
It turns out they really were.
Seeing that this old brother had bought what must be thousands of yuan worth of Roman Glazed Beads from his shop, Chen Yiyang thought for a moment and made another offer.
"A hundred and twenty per piece, take it or leave it. If it's any more expensive, I'd rather buy something from that grandpa's stall next door and take it home to display."
"I brought these here all the way from Tongliao," the middle-aged man thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and countered, "Five pieces for eight hundred."
"Seven hundred fifty," Chen Yiyang haggled, thinking to himself.
He didn't expect these things were indeed authentic Roman antiques brought from Tongliao by this old brother.
It's just that the coin patterns are too outrageous, so no one takes them seriously.
The knowledge about Ancient Roman brothel tokens is just too obscure.
The middle-aged man eventually accepted Chen Yiyang's offer of seven hundred and fifty.
He himself didn't believe these things were real.
Getting seven hundred fifty for them was quite good. If it weren't for the incredible patterns carved on them, he probably couldn't even get seven hundred fifty.
After Chen Yiyang pocketed the coins, he transferred the money to the other party.
One has to take chances with these foreign goods.
Domestic antiques have been scrutinized by batches of related experts and enthusiasts, leaving no big bargains.
If an antique looks even 30-40% real, the seller wouldn't budge from a high price.
Unlike these Ancient Roman items, both parties are willing to deal with them as artworks.
"Young man, you really have a taste for these things," an old man nearby said, seeing Chen Yiyang had made another purchase.
He figured Chen Yiyang was still a big spender, except this time the reason he didn't buy from him was that the young man's tastes had changed.
Seems like next time, I need to get some similar items.
After leaving the street stall and returning home, Chen Yiyang photographed a few coins, attached them to an email, and sent it to the Chinatown foreign appraiser he met last time, asking him to help look over the items and estimate their value.
So around eight or nine in the evening, the foreigner just woke up and replied to Chen Yiyang's email.
Judging from the photos, they are genuine. The pieces are extremely well-preserved, with each valued at over twenty thousand US dollars.
But the issue is, he doesn't have the time to come to Macau recently, so unless Chen Yiyang takes the items to the United States, he'll have to contact someone he knows to come to Jin City for the transaction.
Fortunately, Chen Yiyang wasn't in particular need of money recently, so he wasn't in a hurry to sell the items.
The previous set of court auctioned school district houses had been successfully sold with Yang Yu's help.
Chen Yiyang currently had over three million in available cash.
That was quite a sum.
He bet even Liu Chen's multi-million-worth construction boss didn't have that much cash on hand.
Once he signs the contract with Huang Yuqiu and acquires the stocks and Silk Art Gallery, his net worth will at least be fifty million.
Halfway to his small goal, it seemed.
Huang Yuqiu was also moving quickly.
He was more enthusiastic about donating China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stocks than Chen Yiyang.
The next day, when Chen Yiyang received another tip about bargain fruits and was thinking about taking a day off, he got a call from Huang Yuqiu.
Because he sent the small accountant out on an errand, Chen Yiyang called lawyer Zhang Yida to accompany him to meet with Huang Yuqiu.
"The people from China Merchants Bank will come tomorrow to verify the stocks, and at that time, accompanying news reporters will come too. We will have to complete some filming tasks then."
"I have no problem with that," Chen Yiyang nodded.
The so-called filming tasks were probably similar to reenacting the scenario of how he met with Huang Yuqiu, discovered the practical stock note, and decided on donating the note.
Although none of this story occurred in reality, it didn't matter, the essence of news lies in fabrication.
In a way, news is equivalent to a fanfiction of reality.
"Let's sign the contract today, and by the way, I'll call the Silk Art Gallery to inform them of the change in ownership," said Huang Yuqiu, handing over two contracts.
Chen Yiyang asked Zhang Yida to help review the contracts for any issues.
The details of these two contracts had already been discussed extensively by both sides' lawyers. This time was mainly to ensure the contract content was consistent with prior agreements and hadn't been altered.
After Zhang Yida finished reviewing and confirmed there were no issues, he handed the contract to Chen Yiyang.
Chen Yiyang checked it again himself, and only after making sure there were indeed no problems did he sign his name.
The Spanish platinum counterfeit silver coins were handed over to Huang Yuqiu on the spot by Chen Yiyang.
As for the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stocks, the handover would be completed in the presence of reporters only after the representatives from China Merchants Bank arrived the next day.
After seeing off Huang Yuqiu, only he and Zhang Yida were left in the restaurant's private room.
Chen Yiyang first transferred the agreed lawyer's fee to Zhang Yida.
What they agreed on before was a fixed lawyer's fee, and Zhang Yida would not take a percentage based on the contract amount. So the total price wasn't high.
"Are you interested in coming to Jin City to develop? I might need a lawyer frequently in the future," Chen Yiyang earnestly tried to recruit Zhang Yida.
Based on what the little accountant had mentioned earlier, Chen Yiyang felt that Zhang Yida, at least in terms of character, had no issues.
That was quite rare.
If your lawyer is just inexperienced, you can solve that by finding him help.
But if your lawyer is unethical, then the problem is huge. You might be innocent, but some people might try to curry favor with certain structures and push you to quickly sign a plea deal to admit guilt.
You might want to set up a trust fund for your children to enjoy, only for someone to turn around and swallow the entire fund, leaving not a penny for your descendants.
Therefore, a lawyer's character is more important than their ability.
"I'm not familiar with Jin City. I don't even know anyone there," Zhang Yida thought for a moment and tactfully declined Chen Yiyang's invitation. "My law firm is in Shanghai. In Jin City, where I know no one, I could help you look over a contract, but handling other matters would be beyond my capabilities."
"That's a pity; we'll keep in touch if there's an opportunity in the future," Chen Yiyang was not surprised by this result. After all, Chen Yiyang couldn't afford a personal lawyer yet, and it was normal for someone with a well-established firm in Shanghai not to want to relocate.
After having a good meal and drink with Zhang Yida all evening, the next day, after seeing him off at the airport,
Chen Yiyang checked today's intel on his phone.
It was another piece of intel about picking up cheap fruits.
He noted down the relevant contacts and sent a copy to both Zhou Jianjun and Natasha, telling them to get in touch quickly.
He had other things to do today, as people from China Merchants Bank and the reporters from the TV station were arriving in Jin City at noon.
China Merchants Bank placed quite a bit of importance on this, dispatching a vice president to lead the team over.
The reporter accompanying them was from Central Television.
So, with the reporters and the camera witnessing, Chen Yiyang, accompanied by Huang Yuqiu, handed over the stock certificate of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, the first joint-stock company in China, to the vice president.
China Merchants Bank also brought along an appraiser.
After carefully inspecting the stock certificate and confirming there were no issues,
that vice president swiftly stepped forward. First, he shook hands with Huang Yuqiu to express his gratitude, then shook hands with Chen Yiyang, praising him.
During the filming of this deeply moving process, quite a few of the young employees from China Merchants Bank ended up in tears.
Chen Yiyang wasn't sure why they were crying, but since they were, he felt awkward just standing there, so he shed a few tears as well.
It wasn't until the filming ended and the camera was turned off that
the atmosphere on-site returned to a relatively relaxed state.
So, at noon, everyone happily had a meal together on Huang Yuqiu's invitation.
In the afternoon, the group came to Chen Yiyang's shop.
The shop originally had only two employees, Shen Yifan and Zhou Jianjun.
But both of them had been sent out by Chen Yiyang.
So now, Chen Yiyang's image is of a young man who inherited his father's business, running a second-hand antique store.
Of course, on television, it couldn't be stated so bluntly.
"After graduating, I returned to my hometown to inherit this store to better pass on our Huaxia culture. Many couldn't understand my decision, but I still decided to hold down the fort alone here."
Chen Yiyang spoke eloquently in front of the camera.
"So, when Mr. Huang Yuqiu told me that this seemingly insignificant piece of paper could very well be our country's first joint-stock company's stock certificate, my first thought was to let others know the history behind this item."
"You ask why I didn't want to sell it for a good price?"
Chen Yiyang lowered his head in thought for a while, then looked up and said, "Actually, that thought did occur to me at first. But seeing Mr. Huang Yuqiu's excitement after confirming the authenticity of this stock certificate changed my mind.
An overseas Chinese, and yet he's so thrilled to find an item commemorating our country's history. Why should I profit from something that inherently shouldn't have a price?
Besides, my purpose in returning to inherit this store wasn't to make money. I'm not very interested in money, but allowing more people to learn about the history of that time through this stock certificate is what's more meaningful."
After saying these words, Chen Yiyang basically had no more filming tasks.
The focus of the subsequent filming was all on Huang Yuqiu. Later, the reporter was even supposed to follow Huang Yuqiu back to Luzon to film how the Chinese there loved their nation.
Of course, Chen Yiyang wouldn't feel jealous of this.
He was the financial backer, the one who put up the money, so he deserved such treatment. Besides, favoring outsiders over insiders is one of our excellent cultural traditions, an experience not to be missed.
Once the news is out, Chen Yiyang thinks having a few shots of himself in it would be nice.
However, for now, he doesn't need any national-level backing to protect himself. So he'll first get his footing in Jin City and gradually make progress.